Staten Island slighted by GTAIV
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Apr 12th 2007 at 11:30AM }
Many will recall yesterday's big Grand Theft Auto IV news including plenty of new details about the game. One of those details is causing a bit of a stir in Staten Island. It was revealed yesterday that only four of New York's five boroughs would be represented in GTAIV, with Staten Island being left out. It seems that Staten Island (or at least one of its newspapers) is miffed at its exclusion from the game. As John Annese writes in the Staten Island Advance "When did Staten Island get run off the road as a borough of New York City?" A gamer at a local gaming center stated, "If you're gonna base a game on the five boroughs and you leave out one of the boroughs, it's kind of unsettling" (he added that he would still probably buy the game though).Of course, not everyone is displeased with the news. Linda Baran, the president of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce noted, "That's something I appreciate being left out of." A mother at the gaming center shared similar sentiments, noting that GTA is "not a great game" and that her son wasn't allowed to play it.
Naturally, as game journalists, we're disappointed that so many people remain unaware that games have grown up over the years. Still, the response is expected at this point. Considering the flack companies have been getting lately for basing their games on real world locations, it's interesting to see things turned the other way around.
[Via Game Stooge]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dr.Funbags @ Apr 12th 2007 11:48AM
DLC - The exclusive content will be based in Staten Island.
Daniel Ortiz @ Apr 12th 2007 5:12PM
Staten Island Is Always Left Out. All I Have To Say Is I'm In All 5 Boroughs & NYC Is The Best Place In The World!!
Carnie @ Apr 12th 2007 1:33PM
Dr. Funbags I have to disagree - I don't think that such a large portion of a game such as an entire borough of a city would be for DLC. I mean the level of detail that GTAIV will have I would think would be too large though I could be very wrong.
It doesn't make sense that R* would leave out 1/5 of a city but at the same time having that same 1/5 as DLC doesn't make much sense either.
The only thing that we can do is just wait to see what exactly R* is going to include in the DLC.
ayesroc @ Apr 12th 2007 2:03PM
as a staten island resident i am boycotting this game and i will only be buying 1 copy instead of 5.. and i am a member of the chamber of commerce and next time im at one of the meetings i will be sure to b*tch slap the president..
thanks
bye
Dr. Funbags @ Apr 12th 2007 2:45PM
How big was Oblivion: Shivering Isles?
Arno @ Apr 12th 2007 3:21PM
Staten Island should be part of New Jersey. Over there they think they are part of NYC when it's convinient for them but act like suburbians otherwise.
Fuck 'em!
Marty @ Apr 12th 2007 4:22PM
Yo seriously like 99% of the people moaning and throwing vinegar about this need to just stuff it. Staten Island has tried seceding from NYC on several occasions, and like the guy above says only attach themselves to the city when it suits their purposes. I'm from Maspeth (not exactly the grit and grime of Queens), but still I go to college upstate and you wouldn't believe how many of these suburban types from Staten Island milk the 9/11 "we were attacked" lip service. Pisses me off. I mean seriously if I wanted to go to Queens I'd have to crawl down the east river drive (hope that's in the game btw id love blowing up the cars stuck in traffic down below or dropping bricks on them or something), get lost (given), find my way to the verizano and, you know, 15 hours later maybe ill be in staten island...
I guess the reason it makes me angry that people (gamers, not the article writer)are all up in arms about this is because they're all presumptuous enough to think they're getting cheated when they probably don't even know the geography of new york or even knew staten island existed in the first place!!! I mean honestly, how many people reading this even knew where or what maspeth was before i wrote it? or know where shea is? I highly doubt there's going to be any rockaway or great neck & little neck in the game... do you see any f scott fitzgerald fans crying and complaining? there's not going to be any long island in the game, do you see any JAPs or long island princesses berating rockstar? do you see any yonkers or poughkeepsie (metro north goes all the way there ya know folks), are they throwing cow crap at the internet?
nooooooooo? well then shut up and get a life!
Ciaran Gallagher @ Apr 12th 2007 5:05PM
grown up? Well some games are a bit like propaganda. All this Tom Clancy's and war stuff ... A friend of mines has gotten so into first person shooters that he's considering joining the army! Which proves that games do have a big influence on our thoughts!
mark @ Apr 12th 2007 6:36PM
uh... correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't it liberty city? NOT new york city?
deddyluger @ Apr 12th 2007 7:00PM
No Shaolin? Where's the RZA when we need him?
Boff @ Apr 12th 2007 7:14PM
My first thought was DLC aswell....
Grant @ Apr 12th 2007 8:15PM
oh Staten Island,
the borough that no one wanted.
And don't even try to pawn them off on NJ, we don't want them either.
It's bad enough we have to deal with the people of Seaside, NJ.
peter @ Apr 12th 2007 11:13PM
Well at least the best borough is in it Brooklyn..
Tom @ Apr 13th 2007 3:52AM
What about Hoboken?
peter @ Apr 13th 2007 9:15AM
Hoboken is in Jersey bro..
sabe @ Apr 14th 2007 2:29PM
Wow. Now it seems like Rockstar is just cutting corners on this one. Liberty City again, no planes, smaller map... I dont even know if Ill buy the game, and I used to be obsessed with GTA games.
BowserUSC @ Apr 13th 2007 8:58PM
@13 Please Manhattan is the best. Whenever you say you're going into the city you mean manhattan, not brooklyn.
I'm from manhattan by the way and we don't need staten island anyway, it sucks.
lord thanatos @ Apr 15th 2007 6:02PM
they should put it in the game. call it stasis island. or bargram.
with thier sly humor, staten island will be the true life oxymoron- a big dump, literally- with one huge projects and a part in the back where rich little kids dotn have sh--t to do with themselves but sniff that crack.
oh please put them in!
imagine what residents would say? "we dont live in a dump!"
then a plastic bag will hit them in the face ahahahhaha